The present invention relates to a reduced fat agglomerated chocolate and to a process for its preparation.
Conventional milk chocolate contains about 30-31% fat. It may contain more or less but rarely less than 27% fat. Calorie-conscious consumers demand a chocolate with lower calories and one way of reducing the calories in chocolate is by reducing the fat content. However, there are technical difficulties in reducing the fat content of milk chocolate causing the quality, taste and texture to be inferior to that of conventional milk chocolate. For example, reduced fat milk chocolates usually give a dry and coarse mouthfeel and the viscosity is too high for normal handling during preparation.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,277, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference, I have described a reduced fat milk chocolate which has the same or better physical characteristics such as texture, mouthfeel (lubrication), snap, viscosity, handling (tempering, mould, enrobing), and gloss than a conventional milk chocolate, e.g. containing 30-31% by weight fat.
The reduced fat chocolate described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,277 is obtained by preparing a powdered premix of substantially all the non-fat ingredients (non-fat dry milk, non-fat cocoa powder and sucrose), adding up to 96% of the fat containing ingredients (cocoa butter, milk fat, cocoa liquor and up to 60% of the total lecithin) to the powdered premix and mixing to give a mass containing from 18% to 24% by weight fat based on the total weight of the mass, refining the mass on refining rollers to give a particle size of from 25 to 35 microns, adding the remainder of the fat containing ingredients and lecithin, conching and tempering to give a reduced fat milk chocolate containing less than 27% by weight of fat.
I have now found that if water is added to the above refined mass of milk chocolate ingredients having a particle size of from 25 to 35 microns containing from 18% to 24% by weight fat based on the total weight of the refined mass and freeze drying the mass, an agglomerated chocolate having an average particle size up to 5 mm is produced which surprisingly has a crunchy and light texture as well as having a unique eating sensation which melts easily and is smooth in the mouth.
According to the present invention there is provided a reduced fat agglomerated chocolate having an average particle size up to 5 mm and containing from 18% to 24% by weight fat based on the total weight of the chocolate.
The average particle size of the agglomerate is preferably from 1 to 4 mm, especially from 2 to 3 mm.
The amount of fat contained in the reduced fat agglomerated chocolate is preferably from 19 to 20% by weight fat based on the total weight of the chocolate.
The reduced fat agglomerated chocolate having an average particle size up to 5 mm and containing from 18% to 24% by weight fat based on the total weight of the chocolate may be produced by preparing a powdered premix of substantially all the non-fat ingredients, adding up to 96% of the fat containing ingredients to the powdered premix and mixing to give a mass containing from 18% to 24% by weight fat based on the total weight of the mass, refining the mass on refining rollers to give a particle size of from 25 to 35 microns, adding water to the refined mass and mixing to form a homogeneous mass, freezing the mass, grinding the frozen mass into pieces having an average particle size of up to 30 mm, and freeze drying the pieces to give the reduced fat agglomerated chocolate.
The non-fat ingredients are conveniently non-fat dry milk, non-fat cocoa powder and sucrose, preferably used in conventional proportions, e.g. from about 7.5 to 22.5% by weight of non-fat dry milk, from about 1 to 5% by weight of non-fat cocoa powder and from about 40-55% by weight of sucrose.
Conveniently, lecithin is added to the powdered premix with the fat containing ingredients, preferably in an amount of up to 60% and more preferably from 20 to 40% by weight of the total lecithin normally used in a milk chocolate, e.g. 0.05 to 0.2% by weight based on the weight of the chocolate.
The fat containing ingredients are conveniently cocoa butter, milk fat, cocoa liquor.
The fat containing ingredients may be added in conventional proportions, e.g. from about 10 to 25% by weight of cocoa butter, 3 to 7% by weight of milk fat and from 5 to 15% by weight of cocoa liquor. Preferably, the fat containing ingredients are blended before adding to the premix.
The mass containing from 18% to 24% by weight fat based on the total weight of the mass, may be refined on 2, 3, or 5-roll refiners.
The amount of water added water to the refined mass is preferably from 10 to 50% , more preferably from 20 to 40% and especially from 25 to 35% by weight based on the weight of the refined mass. Preferably, the refined mass and water are mixed until a smooth homogeneous mass is obtained. The duration of the mixing may be, for example, from 2 to 60 minutes, preferably from 5 to 40 minutes and more preferably from 10 to 30 minutes.
After mixing the refined mass and water, the homogeneous mass is advantageously laid out in a sheet before being frozen. The thickness of the sheet may be from 5 mm to 40 mm and preferably from 7.5 to 15 mm. The frozen mass is preferably ground into pieces having an average particle size of from 1 to 6 mm.
The freeze drying may be earned out by any conventional freeze drying process under high vacuum, usually less than 5 mm Hg to give the reduced fat agglomerated chocolate.
The reduced fat agglomerated chocolate is extremely versatile and can be used as a finished product or as an ingredient. Examples of possible applications for the reduced fat agglomerated chocolate are as follows:
in confectionery and chocolate inclusions or centers using larger pieces, for example, making 10 to 40 mm agglomerates which can be enrobed with chocolate or making 100 mm long sticks as a center for a candy bar. The characteristics are a unique light crunchy texture which melts like chocolate.
ice cream inclusions or toppings for instance, for desserts, ice cream and cakes, etc.
dry ice cream coating. The characteristics are a different appearance, crunchy pieces and reduced fat.
hot xe2x80x9creal chocolatexe2x80x9d mix. The characteristics are rich mouthfeel and flavor without adding milk.
out of the bag morsels with added vitamins and minerals (using larger agglomerates of from, for example, 10 to 40 mm.
in admixture with any other kind of chocolate in any proportions.
In particular, the reduced fat agglomerated chocolate may be added to a reduced fat chocolate such as described in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,277 and molded into a bar to give a crunchy chocolate bar having a reduced fat content and a unique crunchy texture and which melts easily giving a desirable soft mouthfeel.
Accordingly, the present invention also provides a reduced fat chocolate bar comprising a mixture of from 60 to 90% of a reduced fat chocolate containing less than 27% fat and from 40 to 10% of a reduced fat agglomerated chocolate having an average particle size up to 5 mm and containing from 18 to 24% by weight fat based on the total weight of the chocolate.
The reduced fat chocolate is preferably a product obtainable by a process as described and claimed in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,277.
Preferably, the reduced fat chocolate bar comprises a mixture of from 75 to 85% of the reduced fat chocolate containing less than 27% fat and from 25 to 15% of the reduced fat agglomerated chocolate
The present invention further provides a process for preparing a reduced fat milk chocolate bar which comprises preparing a reduced fat agglomerated chocolate by the hereinbefore described process of the present invention, mixing from 10 to 40% by weight of the reduced fat agglomerated chocolate with from 90 to 60% of a tempered reduced fat chocolate containing less than 27% fat and molding the mixture into the reduced fat milk chocolate bar
The tempered reduced fat chocolate is obtained by preparing a powdered premix of substantially all the non-fat ingredients, adding up to 96% of the fat containing ingredients to the powdered premix and mixing to give a mass containing from 18 to 24% by weight fat based on the total weight of the mass, refining the mass on refining rollers to give a particle size of from 25 to 35 microns, adding the remainder of the fat containing ingredients and lecithin, conching, tempering to give a reduced fat chocolate containing less than 27% by weight of fat. Further details of the preparation of the reduced fat chocolate are described in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,277.